Articles of footwear that have an outer shell made of thermoformable foam are known in the art. More specifically, outer shells of thermoformable foam are particularly beneficial in high performance footwear used for sporting activities such as ice skating, inline roller skating and hiking, because they offer a lightweight outer shell.
However, a deficiency with outer shells of thermoformable foam, is that they often lack enough rigidity to provide the footwear with sufficient foot support. As such, additional reinforcing elements are often used to increase the rigidity of the footwear. These additional reinforcing elements make the footwear more expensive to manufacture or may render the footwear heavier.
Against this background, there is a need in the industry for a footwear comprising an outer shell having a layer of thermoformed foam that has a greater rigidity.